construction—one that augments the objective, public, and nor-
mative framework for comprehending vocational behavior.
Development of a Self-Concept
A self consists of symbolic representations that are personally con-
structed, interpersonally conditioned, and linguistically communi-
cated. Perceptions of the self originate with the awareness that one
is distinct from the mothering person. Although newborns display
consciousness, or the ability to direct attention, they require several
months to become self-conscious in directly attending to them-
selves. Infants form the idea of a self and develop that self-idea by
viewing themselves as an object, particularly in social situations.
Ironically, to develop a self that resides inside the body, individuals
must view the self from the outside. This view leads to objectifica-
tion of the self in the form of self-perceptions, which the individual
interprets and invests with meaning using the tool of language. A
forming self-concept can be viewed as a collection of percepts that
is neither integrated nor particularly coherent. The child draws on
this disjointed repertoire of attributes and fragmented selves as
needed in different situations. This accounts for a child’s rapidly
changing interests and ambitions. Later in childhood and early ado-
lescence the individual, through reflection, generalizes the rather
concrete self-percepts into more abstract self-descriptions and then
weaves them together to fabricate a more or less unified and cohe-
sive self-concept. Thus reflective self-awareness constitutes the
process that develops a self-concept and self-descriptions compose
its content. Once formed, an organized self-concept functions to
control, guide, and evaluate behavior. The self-concept also orga-
nizes the way in which the individual processes and understands
new self-percepts, until disconfirming percepts force a revision in
the self-concept.
Role of Parents.The content that constitutes vocational self-con-
cepts originates in the home as children learn to view themselves
A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR 161